Yes, I understand that I would be a likely suspect...no doubt about it. However, when I tell you unequivocally that I did not post any of those Esmee Bean posts, I mean it.

What the heck. It's not like I have much to lose here. ;-) This kind of nonsense is strictly for fun, so I'm not risking much by making it clear that a particular set of "Guest" posts didn't come from me, but I'm just attempting to clear the deck, that's all. I sort of have to do that when various anonymous happens that might be ascribed to me, otherwise I'd end up being blamed for a ton of weird stuff that I never posted, and that could get to be a real hassle.

I also killed Julius Caesar, robbed the stagecoach at Blackrock, turned in the Dauphin and the Duke, showed the Persians the way around the Spartans, shot William Rufus, and pushed Amy Robsart down the stairs.

Well, there ya go, Hawkster. Just shows to go ya, just when you think you know someone, bam!! They pull something like confessing to every major murder in the last 2100 years. Lose more damn friends that way--they get trundled off in funny jackets.

If Chongo got Rapaire alone in a room and got him tied up and pistol whipped him a little about robbing that Black Rock stage, he might be able to get Rapaire to reveal where the six trunks of gold dust and nuggets it was carrying ended up being hidden in what was, at the time, the back reaches of Cochise country.

Sure, I am willin' to get Rapaire alone in a room and use some gentle "persuasion" to get him to spill the beans about the Black Rock Stage robbery and them other allegations...

Providin' I get some money up front first, that is.

$500 down should do it. I'll get this pigeon to sing, no problem. But who's puttin' up the cash? Ya know....I like Rapaire almost enough to do it for free.....but I also need rent money. A guy can't afford to get soft.

Cochise County? Amos, have you been smoking Californy Tabaky agin? The robbery referred to was near the Black Rock station outside of what is now Inkom, Idaho. The stage went from Virginia City, etc., MT to Salt Lake City, UT. There's no Cochise County anywhere along that route.

Don't you wanna know about little Johnnie? Not a peep or leap for joy at the news. I need to warn you, that I kinda accidentally let it slip to Thelma that I'd found you, and she wants to know where this Mudcat place is. Is it a fish restaurant?

At the time is was part of Bingham County, Idaho. There is not now, and never has been, a Uintah County in Idaho. The very idea would arose much ire in the Legion Hovel, should you ever care to visit that esteemed establishment.

You need to have your prescriptions checked. I have twice written "country" (a general region or area) and you have twice read "county" (a legal, named area). Foo!! Teach them Legionaires readin'. And to wear they eyeglasses.

Wal, Rapaire, ya know, back before Lincoln shuffled the Shoshone, the Ute and the Uintas aound so much, there was a lot more country over which we they traveled. There are many legends about Uintas gold, and it is just possible that stage was carrying the wrongly taken results of someone messing with the Mine of Lost Souls, or some other sacred place which the Uintas did not feel should be messed with by such late-comers. And that might well be why that stagecoach carried that gold, and why, when it was robbed, and the driver and his partner left to bleach in the sun, they say there were signs of warrior's ponies in the vicinity.

No-one knows. If you say you're the one that robbed that stage, well, fair enough, I ain't gonna argue. But do not protest overmuch, as the Bard saith.

Moving the Shoshone around woulda been a tad difficult fer Lincoln, Amos, since the Ft. Hall Indian Reservation (for the Shoshone and Bannock tribes) was created by the Ft. Bridger Treaty of 1868. Ol' Abe had done been dead a piece by that time.

"It all began with Abraham Lincoln and a promise. In the midst of history's greatest test of presidential mettle, Lincoln took time in 1861 to establish the Uintah Valley Reservation for the Ute Indians in Utah.

Before he wrote the order, however, the federal government asked Mormon leader Brigham Young if the Uintah Valley was appropriate for a reservation. Young reported that the land was so utterly useless that its only purpose was to hold the other parts of the world together. In other words, it was perfect for an Indian reservation.

Congress then passed a law that declared the new reservation was "for the permanent settlement and exclusive occupation" of the Ute Indians. In 1882 Congress authorized an addition, which created a homeland for the Utes of over 4 million acres. Finally, the Utes in Utah had a refuge from Anglo settlers."

I wrote this some years back just rediscovered it in an old file. I call it "Dover Beach."

The sea is calm to-night. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand; Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago Heard it on the A gaean, and it brought Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow Of human misery; we Find also in the sound a thought, Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.